


The scale

by Not_gret



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, But not that much, Just bros being bros, M/M, a little bit of pidge hunk Allura and shiro, can I get a yeah for bonding moments, set after the season 4 finale, they aren’t in a relationship yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 17:03:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13127901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Not_gret/pseuds/Not_gret
Summary: Keith had lived a  good life so far. It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t the best, it was in the middle, an okay life. It was as if there was a scale, constantly balancing Keith’s life, both taking from him and giving to him. That was how he justified his would-have-been sacrifice.





	The scale

Keith had lived a good life so far. It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t the best, it was in the middle, an okay life. It was as if there was a scale, constantly balancing Keith’s life, both taking from him and giving to him. That was how he justified his would-have-been sacrifice. It was for the greater good. His family would be safe -because yes, in that sort amount of time the paladins and alteans had won a place in his heart—. It would have been worth it.  
These thoughts kept running in his head, as he leaned on the wall of the bridge, his brows furrowed.  
He raised his head when the doors opened, the first one to come was an angry looking pidge, and Keith braced himself.  
Pidge was about a foot smaller than him and much more scrawny but damn, her punches did sting.  
“What the hell, Keith!”  
She yelled at him. He raised his brows as an answer, looking for someone to fill him in on why there was a gremlin about to attack him.  
“Matt told us what you tried to do.”  
Shiro said, his arms crossed in front of him. He wasn’t happy about it either. “Seriously Keith, of all the irresponsible things you’ve done...” he pinches the spot between his eyebrows “you could have died.”  
Keith clears his troath, not willing to have that conversation.  
“ I did what i had to.” The rest of the paladins looked unconvinced by his argument “look, guys. Now is not the time for this. We need to discuss what we are going to do about lotor”  
Allura sighed, she was the first to give in.  
“Keith is right. We need to adress lotor first.”  
“Yeah. I guess we can grill Keith later.”  
Hunk seconded, and moved a hand to Keith’s shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze. Keith allowed himself to smile  
—————————  
He didn’t know how he managed to do it, but he was able to avoid shiro and the inevitable talk that would ensue. He wouldn’t last long though, as he had decided to stay the night at the castle. - his training session had lasted longer than he had expected and he was too tired to pilot back to the blade-. He was sitting in his bed towel-drying his hair when there was a soft knock on the door.  
When he went to open the door he almost groaned. Lance. He knew what was coming: they were most likely going to start a fight. Maybe lance would throw the first punch, maybe keith would be the one to do it, then hunk or shiro would come and stop the fight. That was how they expressed how much they cared towards the other, by being complete morons about it. However, his day had been tiring. He planned on saying as much.  
“Look, lance. I’m really not up to doing this-“  
He was cut short, though, because lance was wrapping his arms around him. “Lance?”  
He said after a few moments of silence and hesitantly put his hand on the other boy’s back. He hugged him tighter.  
“I don’t know... I just.. I was scared, okay? That I would die without seeing my family. That there was nothing I could do to save the others.” Lance said, Keith leaned his chin on his shoulder. “And then Matt comes and tells us what you tried to do. I almost lost my shit, man. I don’t want to lose anyone.”  
And this was worse than what he thought was gonna happen. Worse than lance yelling at him, worse than shiro’s lectures, because this? This was new. He didn’t know how to handle this lance that went to him even though he wasn’t the leader anymore. They stood there for an awkward minute before Keith spoke. He had wanted to say something reassuring like ‘hey it’s going to be okay’ or ‘you aren’t going to lose anyone’ but what he ended up saying instead was:  
“I was scared too.”  
Which was probably the worst thing he could have said to comfort lance, but it was also the truth he didn’t want to realize. He had been scared, even if he knew what he was doing was for the greater good. He had never felt so afraid as in that moment, where he grasped for life as tight as he grasped the controls to dive in. Where he kept thinking about his friends and how he was never going to see them again, that he would never have the chance to eat with hunk or play pranks with Pidge or just hang out with lance and his obnoxious laughter and bright, blue eyes.  
“God, I was scared too.”  
Keith said, slightly louder and tightening the hug. Lance didn’t seem to mind. They stayed in that position for hours, letting all the worlds they wanted to say, settle in the air around them.  
‘we’re together now’s and ‘I love you’s all hanging in their private bubble. Not even the grim lights that adorned the hallway were enough to break the moment, instead it painted their bodies in blue hue.  
“Why did you do it?”  
Lance said after a moment, finally putting distance, but his hands still on Keith’s arms.  
“...it would have been the right choice”  
Keith said after a moment of silence.  
“It wasn’t.”  
“Thanks.”  
He said sarcastically, and was rewarded by a small smile from lance.  
“I mean it, Keith. Everyone is important in this. Wether they help form voltron or not, They are important. You are important.”  
He said, seriousness returning to his face. Keith let a tired sigh escape from him.  
“Maybe so,” He said, and lance sent him a disapproving glance “but one life isn’t worth as much as five.”  
“It still doesn’t make it right.”  
“Do you always have to argue about something?”  
“Yep.”  
Lance said popping the p, a shit eating grin forming on his face. Good, he had a nice smile. Keith let out a huff.  
“Get out of here, asshole. I’m trying to sleep.”  
He said, hiding his amusement.  
“Wait, you can actually sleep?”  
“Lance.”  
Lance laughed.  
“Okay, Okay. I’m going.” He said turning away. “But just... remember what I said okay?. I... we all need you.”  
He said, and with a friendly punch to the shoulder he left.  
That night Keith had trouble sleeping, his head filled with lance and all that was said and that could have been said. He woke up with a terrible bed head and his companions looked at him with concern as he downed his second cup of altean coffee. He glared back.


End file.
